megaray vs Arcadia D3
 

Hey guys ive been using the Arcadia d3 160watt for a few years now with no problems but a few people are telling me that the megaray come out on top for a better uv out put whats your thoughts and which lights do you guys prefer use thanks matt xx

Hi Matt.

Great idea to launch a thread on this.

After falling out of favour with many keepers because of reliability issues etc. some time ago, the MegaRay has been making a come-back. The 100 and 160 watt Mega Ray Solar Raptor lamps made in Germany for the European market have been a success and are considered reliable.

Although Matt has asked about the Mega Ray and Arcadia lamps, it's worth saying in the passing that there are other combined lamps such as the powersun and solarglow. Both of those have low uvb output relative to the Mega Ray and Arcadia and in my opinion not worth buying. (see here for a You Tube review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s35Z8X55tv4)

I know from other forums that the European MegaRay Raptor combined mvb lamps have a good reputation again but there are issues with the 100 watt USA Mega Ray lamps.

Personally I switched to using T5 Arcadia tubes for uva and uvb with halogens for heat. I reckon the Arcadia tubes are great and they even have a more powerful one than the T5 now, the Dragon, producing a whopping 14% uvb. Also the tubes never blow up and the halogens just go out eventually. But some prefer a combi lamp.

Whist I'm rambling (if anyone's reading!) we were promised a revolutionary new lamp in the form of metal halide. For various reasons the Mega Ray Metal Halides haven't taken off in the way that they might have done. Possibly because you have to buy a ballast at £90 as well as the lamp and it doesn't produce any heat so it's not a combi. So again it means a halogen or something as well and my thinking is why not just use a T5 tube then?

But, in some countries the metal halide (also known as HID) lamps are thought of as being the best.

And to further complicate matters, Powersun and Luck Reptile have brought out metal halides that say they do heat as well as uva and uvb and the ballast is part of the deal. I haven't tried either of those and I haven't seen any reviews that I would trust either. Given how the powersun uvb lamp is, I personally would hesitate to buy their HID.

So if other manufacturers are going the HID metal halide route why are Arcadia not doing so? Well, they are. For fish and fish only. It looks like their 'marine' lamp isn't producing heat. For reptiles Arcadia are sticking with their tubes (no heat produced) and old-school mercury vapour D3 lamps. It's just my opinion but I like Arcadia because they provide loads of good information online about reptile lighting and don't try to pretend it's all very simple, since it's not.

So for your combi lamps I reckon it's between the Arcadia and MegaRay and the 160 watt of either packs a punch in uvb and seem to last quite well.

What I've found with the T5 tubes is they last a very long time but I only know that because I've got a solarmeter. As I'm using them with quite cheap halogens I reckon this is the right route for me at the moment.

But if there is a really good metal halide that produces heaps of light across the right parts of the spectrum and heat as well and doesn't cost too much then I'm ready to be persuaded.

I'm with Jonathan tubes all the way. They are more reliable and if you use the longest one you can fit in your set up it will light up a bigger area which I find keeps your tort active for longer.

Hey Jonathan wow thanks for that write up very interesting, theres a few people saying that the megarays out put of uv is much greater than the Arcadia which is reading at 52 manometers to 307 manometers which is a huge difference right thats based on a reading from a solarmeter
Ive always used the combi bulbs since ive owned tortoises for 11 years now, sure enough ive had some ups and downs with them but I just like how its heat and uv all in one as to having a number of lights on the go at the same time
Ive not really looked into the tube lights to be honest but I know loads of people really like them
I wonder what the difference in cost of running combi bulbs compared to tube lights is ?

Hi again Matt.

The longest Arcadia T5 desert + tube is 54 watts and it's nearly 4 feet long. Like Gordon I use the long ones. Swells are offering these at £22 just now which is a good price. You do need a ballast as well (and it must be the right one) but the ballast goes on for ever.

This is a really economical way of getting a lot of uva and uvb indoors and 54 watts won;t break the bank on running costs. On top of that I use a 80 watt halogen for heat so in total it's maybe 140 watts but for that you are getting not just a lot of good uvb but a lot of wide spectrum light too.

The T5 desert + tubes are really bright. And to get a gradient you can hang the thing at an angle with one end lower down near your heat source.

With a good T5 tube you can easily get 140 plus NM at one end which I reckon is plenty.

Gordon's right in the other thread, if you replace them every year you can be sure it's doing the job. But if you do have a solarmeter you can keep your tubes a lot longer and lower them a bit when the output starts to drop off. But yes it's a bit of messing about.

Over time it wouldn't cost you any more to use tubes and halogens compared to combi bulbs and frankly it's a lot better for the tortoises as well. But, if your torts are mostly outside then maybe none of this matters a lot.

Very well put Jonathan it's in my opinion the best and cheaper option I use a dimming stat on my heat bulb and put it on a timer as with an all in one bulb it's all or nothing.

Thanks guys have you any photos on here of your sets as you both got me really interested now x

Nope :lol::lol::lol:

Ok so this is my setup as you can see ive got 3 160watt Arcadia d3 bulbs on the go do you guys see anything I could improve on thanks matt

https://i.imgur.com/CInMQPpm.jpg

Great thread - love the detail. I am using rep tech at the moment as a break from Arcadia - they seem really compact. I have noticed also that the solarmeter is defunct and wont measure - do they have a fine ite life span do we know? 13p a day to run a uvA/B - 7 lamps on that's £30 a month. I think this is expensive. Maybe tubes are the answer with a heat source separate but is that double the buck ? CB